Review: Governing the World's Money
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200305800319 |
| Date | 01 September 2003 |
| Published date | 01 September 2003 |
| Author | Nicholas Bayne |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
GOVERNING
THE
WORLD'S MONEY
Edited
by
David
M.
Andrews,
C. Randall
Henning
and
Louis
W
Pauly
Ithaca
and
London: Cornell
University
Press,
2002,
234
pp,
us$35.00,
ISBN
0-8014-4019-x
T
his
book contains
academic
analysis
of
the highest
quality
on
themes
of
great
concern
to
policy-makers.
The
authors
of
each
subject
chapter
are
leaders
in
their
fields,
and
the editors'
articulate
introduction
adds
new
thinking
of
its
own.
Canadians
are well
repre-
sented
among
the
authors, and
Canada
features
among the
examples
cited.
Yet
the
book
succeeds
more
as
a
set
of
separate
essays
than
as
a
coherent
whole;
it
leaves
aside
the
most
serious
problems
regarding
the
world
monetary
system
in
2003.
The
editors'
introduction
clearly
reveals
the
tensions between
mar-
kets
and authorities
in
monetary
governance.
Among
the
individual
essays,
there
are
two
on
theory. Robert
Gilpin
analyzes
"political
econ-
omy" from
a
realist
perspective,
while
John
Odell
provides
eloquent
advocacy
of
"bounded
rationality."
The
monetary
system, however,
seems
incidental
to
their
main
concerns.
On
the
International
Monetary
Fund,
Miles
Kahler
reveals
how
the
Bretton
Woods
mone-
tary
system came
to
be
managed
by
finance
ministers
rather
than
cen-
tral bankers;
Thomas Willett,
in
assessing
the
IMF
today,
focuses
not
on
the
currency
regime,
but
on
lending
policies;
and
Philip
Cerny
argues
that
financial
regulation
is
being
"privatized,"
which
seems
to
go
too
far.
Public
regulators
are
more
active
than
ever,
both
nationally
and
internationally
as
evident
with the
Financial
Stability
Forum.
At the
core
of
the
book
are
four
essays
about
the "territoriality"
of
currencies.
Peter
Kenen's
chapter
is
especially
valuable
in
contrasting
earlier
theories
of
optimal
currency
areas
with
the present
reality
of
EMU
in
Europe.
Pier
Carlo Padoan
assumes
that
EMU
must
be
benefi-
cial,
which
is
frustrating
for
readers
who
wonder
why
the
Eurozone's
growth
is
so
disappointing.
Kathleen
McNamara's
lucid
analysis
of
the
adoption
of
the us
dollar
in
the
1860s
is
more
interesting
for
the con-
trasts
than
the
parallels
with
the
present
day.
Eric
Helleiner convinc-
ingly
explains
why
countries
are
prepared
to
give
up
their national
cur-
rencies,
but
overstates
the
prospects
for
them
doing
so.
Few
countries
are
attracted
by
dollarization,
while
the
institutional foundations
needed
for
monetary
unions
(as
stressed
by
Peter
Kenen) do
not
exist
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL Summer 2003
471
To continue reading
Request your trial